WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2025 ''A masterpiece... Pure brilliance from the first to the (devastating) last sentence'' India Knight ''So brilliant and wise on chance, love, sex, money'' David Nicholls ''Spare, visceral, urgent, compelling'' Gary Stevenson ''Brilliance on every page'' Samantha Harvey Through chance, luck and choice, one man''s life takes him from a modest apartment in Hungary to the elite society of London - in this captivating new novel about the forces that make and break our lives Fifteen-year-old Istvan lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. New to the town and shy, he is unfamiliar with the social rituals at school and soon becomes isolated, with his neighbour - a married woman close to his mother''s age - as his only companion. As these encounters shift into a clandestine relationship, Istvan''s life spirals out of control. Years later, rising through the ranks from the army to the elite circles of London''s super-rich, he navigates the twenty-first century''s tides of money and power. Torn between love, intimacy, status, and wealth, his newfound riches threaten to undo him completely. ''How do I get out of a reading slump? This is the book to do that'' Rhianna Dhillon, BBC Radio 4 ''Hugely entertaining, gripping like a thriller'' The Times ''So much searing insight into the way we live now'' Observer ''One of the most astonishing books I''ve ever read'' Dua Lipa ''Refreshing, illuminating and true'' Financial Times ''Compelling and elegant, merciless and poignant'' Tessa Hadley ''Utterly engrossing and I read it all in a day'' 5* reader review ''I was hooked and tried to read this book with any spare moment that I had'' 5* reader review A ''Best Book of 2025'' in the Guardian , Observer , Financial Times , Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail ...

Autorentext

David Szalay

Klappentext

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2025

'Brilliant and wise on chance, love, sex, money' David Nicholls
**'I was tearing through [Flesh], I never once slowed down'** Jennette McCurdy
**'Brilliance on every page'** Samantha Harvey
**'So much searing insight into the way we live now'** Observer

Through chance, luck and choice, one man's life takes him from a modest apartment in Hungary to the elite society of London - in this captivating new novel about the forces that make and break our lives

Fifteen-year-old István lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. New to the town and shy, he becomes isolated, with his neighbour - a married woman - as his only companion. When a clandestine relationship begins between them, his life spirals out of control.

As the years pass, István moves from the army to the circles of London's elite. His competing impulses for love, intimacy, status and wealth win him unimaginable riches, until they threaten to undo him completely.

'An astonishingly moving portrait of a man's life' Booker Prize Judges, 2025

'A revelatory novel' Sunday Times

'Pure brilliance from the first to the (devastating) last sentence' India Knight

'Refreshing, illuminating and true' Financial Times

'One of the most astonishing books I've ever read' Dua Lipa

'Hugely entertaining, gripping like a thriller' The Times

'Visceral and compelling' Gary Stevenson

'Exciting, propulsive, emotional' Sarah Jessica Parker

A BOOK OF THE YEAR for the Guardian, Observer, Financial Times, Sunday Times, Independent, GQ and Daily Telegraph